6:58 pm
by Jeffrey Thomas
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AVATAR rhymes with BLUE WAR
Poster for James Cameron's movie AVATAR

Cover for my 2008 novel BLUE WAR
I never wanted to sound like one of those poor malcontents who claim their unknown story was ripped off by Harry Potter or TWILIGHT, but sometimes the ego churns itself up enough to entertain such giddiness. When the TV movie based on Stephen King’s THE LANGOLIERS appeared, I wondered if Mr. King had read my story STATUES in issue 16 of GOREZONE, former sister magazine to FANGORIA. In STATUES, a group of students visiting a museum get locked in a moment of time and stand helpless as they are nibbled on by toothy Pac-Man-like floating balls. (GOREZONE 16, here: http://www.madmags.de/en/archive/single-view-literature/edition/gorezone/16 ) In THE LANGOLIERS, a group of people stuck in time are attacked by creatures that are little more than big munching Pac-Men. Hmm! But as it turns out, STATUES appeared in GOREZONE in November 1990, while the book in which THE LANGOLIERS appeared, FOUR PAST MIDNIGHT, was released in September of 1990.
So, how paranoid should I allow myself to get about James Cameron’s new movie, AVATAR? Well, this time it was another author – a British friend — who put the suggestion in my head, by telling me that he and others had been discussing a BLUE WAR/AVATAR connection. BLUE WAR being of course my 2008 novel from Solaris Books, in which Earth industrialists on a lush tropical world threaten the well-being of the blue-skinned indigenous people as they seek to suck the planet’s resources. In AVATAR (and all my info on this comes merely from what I’ve read on the web), industrialists on a lush tropical world threaten the well-being of the blue-skinned indigenous people as they seek to suck the planet’s resources. There are some other funny similarities. My protagonist is JEREMY STAKE, a former soldier who empathizes with the blue-skinned folk by taking on their physical appearance (he is a shape-shifting mutant). In AVATAR, the protagonist JAKE SCULLY is a wounded soldier who empathizes with the blue-skinned folk by telepathically controlling a bioengineered “avatar” created in their image. Stake is in love with a beautiful and fierce local warrior named Thi. Jake falls in love with a beautiful and fierce local warrior named Neytiri. In BLUE WAR there are hairless dog creatures called “snipes,” while one source I read on the web had AVATAR characters threatened by hairless dog-like creatures. In BLUE WAR there are giant floating jellyfish called “benders,” while in AVATAR one scene described online had floating jellyfish creatures (though, if they’re what I saw in one of the movie’s stills, these creatures are very small and spore-like). The locals in BLUE WAR are called the HA JIIN. The locals in AVATAR are called the NA’VI. (As in, the NAtIVes?) Ah well, who knows. Nothing new under the sun, great minds think alike, and all that. Still, when one reads a line from the movie like, “Everything on Pandora is deadly. Every plant and animal out there wants to kill you and eat your eyeballs,” I’m reminded of a novel I just read, Harry Harrison’s DEATHWORLD, in which it is said, “Plants and animals on Pyrrus are tough…you would be dead in seconds of leaving the ship.” Cameron is certainly enough of a SF fan to know about some of what has come before AVATAR. Then again, I read online that AVATAR has been in the works for 14 years, but the technology simply wasn’t there before (from what I’ve seen, the movie looks like an especially gorgeous, especially protracted video game cut scene). Well, I guess I’ll save my court case…for now. But we shall see when the movie opens this December, Mr. Cameron…ohhh, we shall see!
10 Responses to “AVATAR rhymes with BLUE WAR”
Jeffrey Thomas
One can play “that reminds me of” with any movie or story (including my own)…but having said that, the wheelchair-bound Jake living and loving vicariously through his avatar puts me in mind of the MENAGERIE episode of STAR TREK, when the wheelchair-bound Captain Pike chooses to live in a world of illusion as an able-bodied man. Will Jake choose the same? And I’m also reminded how Cameron’s TERMINATOR later had to give Harlan Ellison credit for similarities to his teleplays DEMON WITH A GLASS HAND and SOLDIER, for THE OUTER LIMITS. Hm, and hm.
JET
Last night in an online search I saw that someone with the handle “Loudmouth” tweeted about my above post, something to the effect, “Wondering how much Jeffrey Thomas’ Blue War might have influenced Avarar. Harumph!” Yeah, Loudmouth, but I made ya look!
Mary T. Duros
I hope you get notified of comments on old blogs… This weeks South Park had a wee bit at the end with Eric Cartman yelling and swearing outside of a movie theater showing James Cameron’s Avatar for Cameron stealing his movie idea from Cartman’s book. I thought of you…
Definitely catch it if you missed it. It’s on Hulu.
Take care,
Mary.
Jeffrey Thomas
Hi, Mary. Yes, I get notified of comments to any posts.
Oh man, that’s too funny. Wait a minute…I’m sure South Park got that idea from reading my post! I’ll sue them, I tells ya, I’ll sue!
Peter
LOL @ 1st comment
Punktalk » Blog Archive » I’m so blue over AVATAR
[...] between AVATAR and my novels BLUE WAR and DEADSTOCK, and the related short story IN HIS SIGHTS: http://punktalk.punktowner.com/?p=343) Subsequently, Mr. Figueroa has done two fascinating blog posts on the subject, in which he notes [...]
Sebastian
It seems you both stole from Pocahontas
:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/04/avatar-pocahontas-in-spac_n_410538.html
Jeffrey Thomas
Man, now that you’ve helped pin Cameron’s REAL inspiration for AVATAR, I can’t expect that multi-million dollar lawsuit. Thanks a lot!
Dimple Molton
During the film, I was momentarily messed up by many of the similar things that were been mentioned here, but for the most part, I forgot them as my expectations continued. Even the over zealous expression of commercialism or the “over-zealous military commander” were accepted as being a important part of the film.But there one small thing that (oddly enough, I guess) irked me. There was no way to go back and watch it after, but I’m pretty sure that when the Colonel was killed, he took his hands off the robot controls, trying to remove the arrow/bolt. Yet, with the Colonel’s death, the robot TOPPLED OVER! I would have expected such a machine just to simply stop moving and stand there.
Jeffrey Thomas
Hey, Dimple. I hope these discussions of similarities aren’t getting too much in the way of people who go to see AVATAR after having read my blog — if so, sorry! Bit of a spoiler about that Colonel (one of the villains in BLUE WAR is an evil Colonel, too, BTW), but that does sound a litle funny — maybe the Colonel and robot were kind of interfaced or something? I WILL see this movie eventually! Tonight I was too busy watching another masterpiece, Tommy Wiseau’s THE ROOM (which thankfully dosn’t remind me of my own upcoming short story, THE ROOM, from the anthology DARKNESS ON THE EDGE).
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